WASHINGTON, D.C. – In case you missed it, Senator Rick Scott wrote a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal in response to Senator Ron Johnson’s recent op-ed, Is This Any Way to Run a Budget?. In his letter, Senator Scott backs Senator Johnson’s call for Congress to approach the federal budget like a business, scrutinize every line and every dollar of $7 trillion in spending, and balance the budget to help President Trump deliver on his mandate to stop inflation and save the American dream. The Senator notes, with President Trump in the White House and Republican majorities in the House and Senate, Republicans must seize this opportunity to balance the budget, cut taxes, and grow the economy, just like he did as Governor of Florida.
In the letter to the editor, Senator Rick Scott writes, “For years, Ron and I have been asking the same question of the $7 trillion federal spending: what are we spending it on? No one could tell us.
Ron has a common-sense idea that will have folks in Washington scratching their heads – we find out…
President Trump and DOGE’s work has been critical to finding wasteful spending, but Republicans in Congress have to do their part. We must put in the work, look at every line item in the budget, continue the Trump tax cuts while balancing the budget. We can’t squander this opportunity.”
Go through every line in the federal budget, agency by agency, and justify how we’re spending every tax dollar.
My friend, Sen. Ron Johnson, is spot on (“Is This Any Way to Run a Budget?,” op-ed, March 20). Every family and business in America has to operate within their means. They look at their income and expenses and make sure their totals balance out. Not so in Washington.
Federal policymakers have long made “compromises” on spending that give everyone what they want—handing out billions on earmarks and pet projects—instead of making the hard decisions American families do. That’s landed us with more than $36 trillion in debt. For years, we have been asking the same question of the $7 trillion in federal spending: What are we spending it on? No one could tell us.
Sen. Johnson has a common-sense idea: Go through every line in the federal budget, agency by agency, and justify how we’re spending every tax dollar. If it doesn’t have a return on investment for taxpayers, we don’t do it. Easy. I did the same thing as governor of Florida: Every agency justified its spending. We kept the necessities, scrutinized the nice-to-haves. We went from massive deficits to a balanced budget while cutting taxes and regulations as well as reducing permitting time to grow private-sector jobs and make government a smaller part of the economy. We can turn the nation’s economy around this way, too.
President Trump and DOGE’s work has been critical to finding wasteful spending, but Republicans in Congress have to do their part. We must put in the work, look at every line item in the budget and continue the Trump tax cuts while balancing the budget.
Sen. Rick Scott (R., Fla.)
Naples, Florida
